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Our
fabulous 55-year reunion weekend began, as usual, when a group
of early arrivals gathered informally for a cocktail mixer the
night before to get re-acquainted at a delightful pub called
Sutton Place Great American Bar & Grille in
Long
Beach. It is
housed in a wonderful, historical building that once was the
 Long Beach Public Library near the LIRR station on picturesque
West Park Avenue.
And that
night, for the first time ever, our beautiful, 1960 Sailors'
satin banner (shown at left) was displayed in
Long
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 We
passed through the beautiful LBH bar area as we entered our
designated party room. Instead of the traditional round tables
for ten, we found that the room was set up with small tables and
clusters of couches. Rather than the traditional sit-down dinner
service or a buffet, we were served an incredible assortment of
delicious pass-around hors d'oeuvres followed by what was called
"mini-meals" of three different varieties, equally
delicious, that were also passed around in
seemingly unlimited quantities.
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 This
party format, which we were told is quite trendy today
among young people (after all, we are young
people, right?) enabled our partygoers to move around
the room at will, to sit down and eat, drink or
just talk whenever and wherever they wanted. As we experienced,
it was quite highly
conducive to conversation. In fact, we were so
busy "reunionating," that, unfortunately,
almost no photos were taken. What little we have
is mostly what was "mined" from the
videos (made by classmate, Jeff Menton,
a professional videographer).
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 As
always, Howie's welcoming address was central to
our program, along with an introduction by his very dear and
close friend of all these many years,
Bob Rubin (both featured on our
video).
Tom Nasca introduced our only
faculty guest for the evening, Mary
Williams Cifarelli (also
in our
videos). In addition to her teaching duties, Mary
directed both of our dramatic and musical stage productions
presented during our senior
year, Teahouse of the August Moon
and
Bells Are Ringing.
The night of our reunion, you'll see on the
video
that she gave us a critical review of Howie's
reunion address. |
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Our first
video
segment consists of
a slideshow especially made for this reunion that featured our Sailors'
fond memories and sentiments from our time together at
OHS.
It played, backed by appropriate music, as ambience as we met
and greeted each other at the opening of our reunion celebration
on Saturday evening.
 Our last
video
segment consisted of
another slideshow also made for this reunion that features images
of the historic Long Beach boardwalk as it was in the
1950s when we grew
up -
because
(of course)
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Immediately
upon their arrival
at our main celebration, each Sailor from our class was given a
packet containing two slick booklets.
The first was a
program
booklet made in the form of a special
edition of our
 school
newspaper,
the Sider Press. In
addition to our program for the evening, it contained
congratulatory letters from
Oceanside
and Long Beach
officials/
community leaders and messages to the class from classmates and
teachers who were unable to join us for our reunion.
The second
booklet distributed was a
memorial photo album made in the form of a special edition of
our 1960 yearbook,
Spindrift
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as Howie
ended his welcoming address, we observed a moment of silence
for those of us who have passed on. |
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If you missed it, you missed a very special
event.
All in all,
everyone
loved
it.
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What our
Sailors had to say about this reunion:
Notice how
pervasive are the heartfelt sentiments
expressed in the accolades we received afterwards (this,
Sailors, is what
makes all the hard work worthwhile):
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We just want to tell you
what a lovely evening it was last night. There was something
to be said for the intimacy of the smaller group
and smaller room. Everyone seemed closer to each other,
talking, laughing, dancing. It was really fun. All your hard
work paid off for our class. We are so fortunate to have
you. We don't hear of any other reunions like ours.
Congrats.
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Sue Schlesinger and
Bill Liebman
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Another winner from you and your
reunion committee! The 55th
Reunion was, as per usual,
excellent. Good venue choices with the Long Beach Hotel, and
Friday night at Sutton Place. I certainly enjoyed the chance, once again,
to catch up with memories and with classmates
while I can still remember what and who they are (massive
brain cell loss will, I hope, be postponed for a while
longer). So, now, on to the 60th?
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Dan Dawson
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It was great seeing some old faces at the reunion. Almost
everybody looks exactly the same as 55 years ago. Thanks to
you and the entire committee.
- Terry Brennan
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Thank you again for all your hard work in continuing the
Oceanside Class of 1960 Sailor spirit! We may have been
fewer in number this time, but we are still a spirited
group. Ruth (Ryder) and I enjoyed seeing and connecting
with old friends, and it was nice to be able to spend quality
time catching up. We appreciate all that you and the
Reunion Committee do to keep our high school class
connected.
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Eileen
Carlock
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I
thoroughly enjoyed the 55th
celebration. As
always, I was struck with what a congenial class we are, and
found time to visit with just about everybody. The location
was great; it was a pleasure to re-visit an area that I
always associate with sunny days and good times.
- Lloyd Becker
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I want
to thank you again for the bang-up job you and Susan did on
arranging the reunion. I had a wonderful time and actually
got to speak to people I hadn't seen since we graduated OHS. Don't know if it was the smaller group or that we are just
getting older, but things didn't seem as clicquey as it did.
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Betty Griffin
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Wow!
The
reunion was wonderful! We owe it all to you! You did a
fabulous job in organizing it and making all the necessary
arrangements! Seeing so many classmates after so many years
was terrific! Looking forward to our 60th!
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Marjorie
Shiff
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We want to acknowledge you and Susan for your tireless
efforts in planning the reunion and the website. Your
dedication to and fondness for OHS is unmatched. Thank you,
thank you, thank you!
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Nancy Koller and Jack Beaulieu
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How
great to be able to attend the wondrous 55-year reunion. I
enjoyed seeing every one, and the delicious food made the
evening even more special. Aloha from Hawaii
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Diana
Funaro
And my
favorite (as is always, from this gracious lady):
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Our 55th
reunion was nostalgic by many measures. The sands
in the hour glass cannot be reversed as the
class of 1960 now together enters the Autumn of our lives. The
Circle of Life is unrelenting. Therefore ,the intimate
conversations of those fortunate enough to be together during our 55th
reunion to celebrate our health and happy memories may feel
it was the most rewarding and
important of all our reunions. This reunion seemed full of
love and kindness. Gone were the superficial measures of
friendship of our youth. Genuine warmth and caring was the
thread of our so very personal conversations as we retrieved
our OHS memories from the Springtime of our lives. Your remarks,
Howie, captured these sentiments
while our quiet conversations during the evening will become
jewels in our memory of our 55th
reunion. I am grateful to
be able to share such a meaningful occasion with those who
choose to be together again.
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Lynda D’Acunto
Our
heartfelt thanks go out to all who wrote to express their
appreciation.
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We were
greeted and made to feel welcome by parking valets, food servers
